Mutual amino acid catalysis in salt-induced peptide formation supports this mechanism's role in prebiotic peptide evolution.

The presence of some amino acids and dipeptides under the conditions of the salt-induced peptide formation reaction (aqueous solution at 85 degrees C, Cu(II) and NaCl) has been found to catalyze the formation of homopeptides of other amino acids, which are otherwise produced only in traces or not at all by this reaction. The condensation of Val, Leu and Lys to form their homodipeptides can occur to a considerable extent due to catalytic effects of other amino acids and related compounds, among which glycine, histidine, diglycine and diketopiperazine exhibit the most remarkable activity. These findings also lead to a modification of the table of amino acid sequences preferentially formed by the salt-induced peptide formation (SIPF) reaction, previously used for a comparison with the sequence preferences in membrane proteins of primitive organisms.

The combination of salt induced peptide formation reaction and clay catalysis: a way to higher peptides under primitive earth conditions.

Two reactions with suggested prebiotic relevance for peptide evolution, the salt induced peptide formation reaction and the peptide chain elongation/stabilization on clay minerals have been combined in experimental series starting from dipeptides and dipeptide/amino acid mixtures. The results show that both reactions can take place simultaneously in the same reaction environment and that the presence of mineral catalysts favours the formation of higher oligopeptides. These findings lend further support to the relevance of these reactions for peptide evolution on the primitive earth. The detailed effects of the specific clay mineral depend both on the nature of the mineral and the reactants in solution.

Catalysis of dialanine formation by glycine in the salt-induced peptide formation reaction.

Mutual catalysis of amino acids in the salt-induced peptide formation (SIPF) reaction is demonstrated for the case of glycine/alanine. The presence of glycine enhances dialanine formation by a factor up to 50 and enables dialanine formation at much lower alanine concentrations. The actual amounts of glycine play an important role for this catalytic effect, the optimal glycine concentration is 1/8 of the alanine concentration. The mechanism appears to be based on the formation of the intermediate Gly-Ala-Ala tripeptide, connected to one coordination site of copper(II) ion, and subsequent hydrolysis to dialanine and glycine.